One man's switch to Romney

There’s an interesting op-ed in the New Hampshire Union Leader by Michael Moffett, a professor at NHTI-Concord and McCain 2000 supporter. He says that while he supported McCain in 2000 and holds a deep respect for McCain, he feels that Romney is the man that should be president:

The reasons are many, and they include the impressive analysis of the international situation that Romney articulated after his trip to Asia earlier this year…No prospective President can come close to offering the diverse record of executive leadership that Romney can…Our Republican standard bearer should be someone who remains true to our important principles of limited government while celebrating individual responsibility and personal liberty.

Mitt Romney is such a person.

Why the shift from McCain to Romney? Moffett has several reasons ranging from lack of executive experience to ideological differences over McCain-Kennedy and McCain-Feingold.

One notable absence from Moffett’s reasoning: traditional social issues. Moffett does not take the opportunity to distinguish McCain from Romney on social issues. Certainly there are differences, but it is interesting that McCain-Kennedy and McCain-Feingold have become so prominent in conservative circles, even to the point of perhaps eclipsing traditionally prominent social issues like abortion and gay rights. Indeed some of the loudest applause that Romney got in his CPAC speech was for his opposition to McCain-Kennedy and McCain-Feingold. Is this due to the stances of the top-tier candidates on traditional social issues, or is a more significant realignment occurring on conservatives’ priority list?